In recent days, a mural in Tirana’s ‘Student City’ has become the cause of major backlash on social media.

The mural was authored by a Spanish artist called Sasha Primo.

The majority of the comments on social media are against this mural arguing that it is an image of a character belonging to the LGBT+ community and that according to them, it is not ethical for such an image to be present on one of the facades of a building located in an area mostly populated by students.

According to a statement released by the City of Tirana, the artist in question, after finishing the mural in a short time as part of the “Mural Fest”, asked to create a second one, inspired by a Roma woman who had begged him for money close to the apartment building where he had been working while in Tirana.

As a result, he formed a special rapport with her, so much so that while he was working on the first mural, he also shared his lunch with her. The lack of time is the explanation given by the artist Helidon Haliti for the approximation of this mural with a transgender figure.

According to him, the artist did not have enough time to emphasize the feminine features, whereas the height of the building also reinforced some of these difficulties.